Conyers Catastrophic Injury Attorney
What Is a Catastrophic Injury?
In medical and legal terms, a catastrophic injury has a significant long-term or permanent impact on your quality of life. Losing the ability to walk after a car accident is just one example of a catastrophic injury. Whether your severe injuries happened due to an accident or assault, the statute of limitations gives you two years from the incident’s date to file a personal injury lawsuit against the party responsible for your injuries.
The person or group who caused your catastrophic injuries need not have done it on purpose for you to file a claim. Accidents happen all the time, but it often becomes evident after closer inspection that negligence played a significant role.
When someone else’s negligence leaves you with devastating injuries that make it difficult to impossible to support and take care of yourself, you deserve financial compensation for your suffering. Conyers Catastrophic Injury Attorney Mark Thomas is here to fight for fair compensation on your behalf. After all, you may have to deal with the severe consequences of another person’s negligent actions for the rest of your life.
Which Type of Injuries Meet the Definition of Catastrophic Injury?
Although many types of injuries are serious, that does not automatically make them catastrophic. If you sustain a concussion due to a trip and fall accident but recover within weeks, for example, you could not argue that the injury had a life-altering impact. Conyers catastrophic injury attorney Mark Thomas often works with clients who have the types of damages described below.
- Amputation of an arm or leg: When a limb becomes trapped under thousands of pounds of metal, such as in a car accident, the damage may be so severe that amputation is the only option. Your quality of life will never be quite the same, even if you eventually receive a prosthetic arm or leg. You are also likely to need ongoing medical care to guard against infection and other limb amputation complications.
- Burn injuries: Work accidents and handling faulty products are common causes of severe burn injuries. A burn injury is brutal when it reaches the third or fourth skin layer. These painful injuries can require a lifetime of care since severe burns are incredibly prone to infection.
- Multiple bone fractures: Breaking several bones at the same time can set you up to experience pain and limitations for life. These types of complex injuries are most common in car accidents.
- Paraplegia: You have paraplegia if you can no longer move or control your legs due to a break in your lower spinal cord. Unfortunately, this type of damage can happen in an instant if the blow hits your spinal cord in just the right place.
- Quadriplegia: This life-changing injury causes the victim to lose voluntary control of both the legs and arms. Because of the medical complexity of quadriplegia, most people must hire nursing care 24 hours a day. The expense of that alone can be astronomical over a lifetime of living with quadriplegia.
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI): Living with TBI can be extremely challenging because it can change your personality, worsen a mood disorder, make it difficult to remember or process information, and a host of other long-term or permanent difficulties. TBI occurs due to a violent jolt to the head, such as assault, or when an object pierces the brain. Diagnosis and TBI treatment are notoriously difficult since it affects everyone differently and symptoms can change over time.
How Do Catastrophic Injuries Happen?
Car Wrecks are one of the most common ways to experience a catastrophic injury, but many other types of damages can be even worse. A collision between a normal-sized passenger vehicle and an 18-wheel commercial truck, for example, has the potential to cause devastating injuries to the people in the car due to the size and weight differential of the two vehicles. Other typical causes of catastrophic injuries include:
- Defective consumer products
- Medical malpractice, including surgery errors, incorrect or missed diagnosis and treatment, and prescribing defective drugs.
- Injuries from improper supervision when the defendant should have provided it.
- Intentional assault
- Property owner negligence resulting in a trip and fall, assault, or another type of incident leading to catastrophic injuries.
These represent just a handful of reasons someone may experience a catastrophic injury. Freak accidents no one has ever heard of or thought to prevent make up a good portion of severe injury cases as well.
What Type of Compensation Can You Receive as a Catastrophic Injury Victim?
Even when your injuries are devastating, do not feel surprised when the attorney representing the other party tries to deflect blame from his or her client onto you. The other party’s insurance agent may do this in the early days after the accident, too. Although it can be upsetting, Conyers catastrophic attorney Mark Thomas has years of experience fighting against wrong information and obtaining fair settlements for his clients. Here are some of the most common types of compensation available to victims of catastrophic injuries.
- Payment for past, present, and anticipated future lost wages. If you cannot return to your job, the jury considers factors such as your age, employment, and wage history and whether you can train for any other type of work when considering this monetary award.
- Payment for past and present medical expenses along with your future estimated cost of care. Achieving an accurate estimate can require the use of expert medical witnesses.
- Replacement of personal property such as your vehicle.
- Stipend to upgrade your home or vehicle to accommodate the disability.
- Subjective compensation for pain and suffering.
How Can A Conyers Catastrophic Injury Attorney Help With Your Case?
You have already suffered enough and deserve compensation for the lifetime of challenges ahead of you. Please contact Mark Thomas Injury Lawyer to request your initial case review today.